Bubblegum
by no white horse for me
Summary: "He's your best friend, and you're convinced because some fools who sit behind a podium say that he murdered someone?" Tonks has to face a lot of issues in her life, and many are made by one Remus John Lupin


**Ah! Two in one day! So, this was written in about 2 hours maybe because I had nothing else better to do. Let me know what you think, and review!  
>HPloveofmylife<strong>

"Hi, Aunt Dromeda!" Came a familiar voice by the door, and Dora's head shot up from her cereal. Her eyes grew wide as she heard her mother usher the guest into the house. The young man that Dora heard continued to talk to her mother, but Dora turned her head toward her father, who was grinning from ear to ear. He jerked his head a bit – a silent signal to go – and she did. She dropped her spoon with a loud clatter into her bowl and tore out into the living room, stopping short in the doorway.

He looked much the same – long, twisted brown hair, a happy face that was always split in a grin, and dark brown eyes. "Sirius!" She shouted, her own pretty face cracking as she grinned. He immediately stopped talking to Andromeda and turned to her, his smile getting wider.

"Dora!" He laughed as she ran up to him, her arms open wide. He scooped her up and spun her around, making her laugh with glee. "How's my favourite little cousin?" He asked, holding her tight on his hip.

Dora giggled. "I'm your only cousin, silly." Sirius blushed and looked away, pretending to be embarrassed. Dora laughed outright and kissed his cheek. He ruffled her bubble gum pink hair good-naturedly, and said in her ear, "Interesting colour. Could it be any brighter, though?" He was trying to get a rise out of her – she knew it – but she accepted the challenge, focused her energy, and felt the tell-tale tingling in her skull. Sirius pulled back, and his jaw dropped. "How's that?" She asked cheekily, and he raised an eyebrow.

And then, Dora noticed a man standing next to Remus, one she had accidentally overlooked. He had dark brown hair and eyes such a crystalline blue that Dora stared at them, feeling as though she was staring into the ocean. "Who are you?" She questioned, not meanly, but in a child-like curiosity.

"Dora, this is my best friend, Remus." Sirius introduced, swinging the little 6 year old over his shoulder so she was riding piggy-back. Remus bent low in a bow, and Dora giggled again.

"Nice to meet you, Dora." He had a slow voice, soft and melodious, like honey sliding off a spoon.

"Shall we go out into the yard? It's a lovely day out and I'm sure Dora has some new contraption she'd like to show you." Andromeda smiled, and Dora squealed in agreement, sliding off her cousin's back. Without hesitation, she grabbed both Sirius and Remus' hands and dragged them out the door, toward the forest that backed their property. "I found this, Siir, I found this!" She called in gleeful laughter, dropping both their hands and picking up something; she dashed back toward them and shoved it in Sirius' face. He took the soft thing from her hand and inspected it. Obviously without a clue as to what it was, he handed it to Remus, whose face immediately took on a look of pure amazement.

"This is a piece of Sphinx mane. How did you come by this?" He asked, bending down so that he was eye-level with the little girl.

She shrugged. "Dunno. I was just looking through the forest and it was there. Cool, huh?"

Remus looked between the dark brown fur in his hand and the proud-looking 6 year old before him.

"Yes, yes it is."

Remus sat at the massive, oak, kitchen table in the Tonks' kitchen, staring mutely down at the tablecloth, as though hoping it could turn back time. Andromeda, Ted, and Dora, who was now 16 and a beauty, sat around him, and Andromeda had prepared some tea and sandwiches, but none of them felt like eating. They were all trying to wrap their heads around the owl-post they had received. James and Lily Potter were dead, and little Harry had just scraped by with his life. But it wasn't this shocking news that had brought silence upon the normally loud house-hold. It was much more.

Sirius was a murderer.

He was the man who had given them up to Voldemort, had given up the location of them. But he had also murdered an innocent man, a man who had seen as a friend. And 13 innocent Muggles. "He really murdered someone. Our Sirius murdered someone." Ted muttered, and Dora – who had insisted to be called Tonks – turned to him, fire in her dark green eyes.

"I don't believe it. I don't believe he gave up Uncle James and Aunt Lily, or that he killed Peter. I just don't think he'd do something like that." She said defiantly, and while Remus admired her sureness on the topic, he couldn't help but think she was wedging herself into a pit of disappointment. Both Dromeda and Ted tried to change her look – "Look at the facts, Dora" – but she refused, her arms crossed firmly over her chest, her green eyes full of fire, and her dark brown hair so much like Sirius' that it hurt. Eventually, both Ted and Andromeda left the kitchen, heading upstairs to be in peace. And he watched numbly as Dora rose to her feet and left the kitchen.

Remus continued to sit there, and eventually managed to get to his feet, and as he was collecting his coat, a voice behind him made him leap into the air. "You believe he did it, don't you?" He turned toward Dora, who stood leaning against the door frame, wearing an oversized jumper that Remus immediately recognized as something Sirius had once owned. She was glaring at him with so much intensity that even though she was shorter than him, he cowered.

"I'm having trouble seeing any other way around it. The evidence all points toward it." He said, stuffing his wand into his robes.

"He's your best friend, and you're convinced because some fools who sit behind a podium say that he murdered someone? I don't believe it, and if he really was your best friend, then you shouldn't either. But I guess I was wrong about that." She spoke in a cool, calm, collected manor, but there was a tremor in her voice, one that Remus – if he hadn't been so stung by her words – would have noticed.

"He _was_ my best friend, but he is a convicted murderer, according to the Minister of Magic, and he's been sent to Azkaban." He said through clenched teeth, and Dora scoffed.

"Oh, yes, and the Ministry is _always_ right, aren't they, Remus? They're right about everything, including all werewolves being monsters." At this, Remus' eyes widened. She couldn't know; how could she possibly know? But she caught his look of horror, and her lips twisted in a bitter smile. "I'm not as stupid as I look, Remus. I put two and two together – how you always look tired around a specific part of the month, how you always disappear just before the full moon, how you're always so cut off around that time – and I figured out your little secret. And you know what, Remus?" He waited for the blow to come, waited for her eyes to take on such a look of disgust as every other's had. But it never came.

"I don't understand why you didn't tell me."

"Because there are some things you wouldn't understand."

Dora let out a high-pitched laugh. "Are there, Remus? And I can't believe you're just sitting back and accepting the fate of your _best friend_. There is no proof that Siir killed Peter, or that he was following Voldemort – oh, stop _flinching_ – because no one knows the fact. What if Peter was the one who was following Volde – oh, fine, _You-Know-Who_ and that he actually gave up Aunt Lily and Uncle James? No one has decided to ask any of the Death Eaters in Azkaban, the partially sane ones, because they would know. _They would know who was following Voldemort but no one has ever thought to ask them!"_ Her voice had risen to a screech, and she looked quite deranged.

Remus had finally snapped. "Look, there are some things you just cannot understand. You are a 16 year old girl – you know barely anything! Sirius is a murderer and as much as it hurts to accept that fact, it's time for you to face it and accept reality: Sirius is not who we thought he was! Give it up, Dora, because he has chosen his path, and we have chosen ours. Maybe the Ministry are right this time – maybe we saw a different Sirius than to who he was. But there is nothing we could do about it! But you shouldn't be worrying about this – you're 16, you have your whole life ahead of you! You should be hanging around with friends; you should have a boyfriend – you-should-be-living-your-life!" He yelled, and he immediately knew he had gone too far. Dora's eyes widened in hurt, and she stepped backward.

"And how can I have fun, Remus, when I know – yeah, that's right, I _know_ – that an innocent man is in prison for the consequences of another's actions? How can I live my life like nothing is wrong when my cousin is stuck in that hellhole? If you can tell me how I can live my life like that, I'm open. Get out of my house, Remus." And with that, she turned and fled, slamming the door in her wake, but not before Remus heard a strangled sob.

Remus stared at the spot where she had been for a moment and then turned and began banging his head against the wall. "Idiot, idiot, idiot!" He told himself – how could he talk to Dora like she was a child when she was almost of age? He knew that he would never be welcome back in this house, so instead of going in search of the angry teenager, he wrote a quick note, signed it, and disappeared.

Later, Dora came downstairs, tears streaking her pale face, and the first thing she saw was a letter addressed to her, sitting on the counter. She glared at it, as though waiting for it to burst into flames, and then she picked it up and read it.

_Dear Dora,  
>I'm terribly sorry about everything I said to you before. I had no right to say any of that, and though I know you will take a while to forgive me – you are much like Sirius in that way – you will eventually. And I will do as you say, but perhaps we shall meet again.<br>Good luck, Dora.  
><em>_Remus Lupin_

"Honestly, Mad-Eye, I really don't know what you're doing! This is a Muggle street! Wouldn't they have noticed if wizards were right in the middle of them?" Tonks demanded, and Mad-Eye Moody turned his glass on her, and she clamped her mouth shut. He tapped his stick on the ground a few times, and Tonks almost screamed. The buildings were separating to reveal a black house wedged in between them. And as Tonks looked up into a Muggle window, expecting to see them leaning out, looking horrified, she found that they hadn't moved – hadn't _noticed_. "That answers that question." She followed Mad-Eye through the gate and into the house, looking around in awe. It looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place it. And then it hit her;

"This is Sirius' house!"

Mad-Eye and Kingsley turned to look at her – Kingsley winked, Mad-Eye just glared. And then he stomped ahead. "Geez, ever since he's gotten out of that trunk, he's been worse than ever." Tonks muttered to Kingsley, who laughed. They had entered the house and were crossing the threshold when Tonks suddenly remembered. "There was this stupid umbrella thing that I always used to trip over, I need to watch…" She trailed off as she turned her head right and left, searching for the damn thing. When she didn't find it, she continued walking, looking happy. And then, she felt her foot wrap around something – she felt herself going down, down, down – she hit the floor with a resounding _thwack_.

She closed her eyes and winced at the winded sensation in her stomach. "Every bloody time!" She burst out as she scrambled to her feet, using her wand to clean herself off.

"FILTHY MUDBLOOD SCUM! DISGUSTING HALFBREEDS! WORHTLESS MONGRELS!" Tonks screamed and dropped her wand in shock. She spun on her heel to see a portrait hung on the wall, two curtains that had been covering it pulled back, and someone Tonks recognized as her aunt screaming herself hoarse. Mrs Black continued to screech at the top of her lungs while Mad-Eye and Kingsley wrestled with the hangings, trying to draw them shut, but they refused to shut.

Suddenly, something with dark hair tore down the steps, the two men stepped aside as whoever it was fought with the curtains. "Shut the hell up, you foul woman! I said, SHUT UP!" He screamed, and Tonks felt her heart somersault in her chest. She recognized that voice – how could she not? Finally, the man managed to wrench the hangings shut, and the screaming ceased. He stepped back and turned toward her, pushing dark, straggly hair out of his eyes. When he saw her, he stopped moving completely.

Tonks' jaw dropped as she took in the sight before her, hardly daring to believe her eyes. He still looked much the same – dark brown hair, dark green eyes, a cheeky grin. His eyes lit up, as did hers, and she stepped toward him. "Siir?" She whispered hesitantly, and his grin – if possible – grew wider.

"Hey, little cuz. Wondered when you'd get here!" She laughed aloud and fell into his arms. He picked her up bridal style and she laughed, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

"I knew you weren't guilty." She murmured into his skin, and he put her down, staring down at her doubtfully. "I did!" She exclaimed. "I told Mum and Dad that you weren't guilty! I told them, and you can ask them!" She stomped her foot like a child, and Sirius laughed, tugging her closer.

"Believe me; I've heard enough about it from someone else."

Tonks pulled back, confused. And then she heard a soft voice on the stairs behind her, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Hi, Dora."

She spun around quickly, her gangly limbs flailing, knocking Sirius backward into Kingsley. She stared up at the figure standing at the top of the stairs, and her jaw dropped. There was no way, no possible way. But he looked the same, maybe a little older, a little more worn-down. He stepped quickly down the stairs so that he was standing in front of her, and she continued to stare.

"Dora, I know you're probably still mad at me and you have every right to be, because I said some horrible things to you that have haunted me every single day, and I know that you were right about Sirius and that I should have believed you but – Oof!" Tonks had charged headlong at him and literally thrown herself into his arms and was hugging him as tight as she could.

"I forgive you, I forgive you!" She exclaimed, kissing both his cheeks. He smiled and blushed, pulling her closer and breathing in her smell of dew and dirt.

"Enough of the soppy love story. Let's get a move on." Mad-Eye grunted behind them, pulling Tonks off of Remus and pushing her ahead of him into the kitchen. She managed to turn her head and wink at Remus before Mad-Eye practically threw her into the kitchen and beckoned for everyone else to make their way in. Just as Remus moved after them, Sirius caught the back of his robes and pulled him back.

"Treat her well. She really likes you. If I hear that you've hurt her, I'll kill you." He hissed in his best friend's ear. Remus looked at him, confused – what on earth was he talking about? – But Sirius just grinned like he knew some secret and disappeared into the kitchen. Remus stared after him, but then shook his head and entered the kitchen.

_Stupid Padfoot_, he thought to himself. But he didn't understand then just how accurate Padfoot was on his predictions.


End file.
